Display packs



Nov. 25, 1969 E. c. BAKER DISPLAY PACKS Filed July so, 1968 United States Patent 3,480,138 DISPLAY PACKS Ernest C. Baker, Solihull, England, assignor to Newey Goodman Limited, Birmingham, England, a British company Filed July 30, 1968, Ser. No. 748,750 Int. Cl. B65d 73/00 U.S. Cl. 206-78 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A display pack comprises a backing sheet and a transparent cover having a recess and a peripheral flange secured to the sheet. An opening in the cover enables an article container to be inserted into the recess. The container has a window through which articles can be viewed. Part of the container constitutes a closure for the opening. There may be a flap formed from the backing sheet and overlying the opening, the sheet being foldable along the line at which the flap joins the sheet so that when the sheet is folded the flap is less of a restriction to the withdrawal of the container.

This invention relates to display packs, that is to containers for containing goods of the kind intended to be displayed with the goods contained within them.

From one aspect the present invention consists in a display pack comprising a backing sheet and a transparent cover formed with a recess and a peripheral flange secured to the backing sheet by its flange so that a hollow enclosure is formed between the backing sheet and the cover, an article container in the enclosure or adapted to be disposed in the enclosure, and capable of being inserted into the enclosure by way of an opening in the wall of the recess, the arrangement being such that when the container is disposed in the enclosure any article or articles in the container can be viewed through the cover.

From another aspect the present invention consists in a method of making a display pack comprising preforming a transparent, peripherally flanged cover by making a recess in suitable sheet material, securing the cover by its flange or flanges to a backing sheet so that a hollow enclosure is formed between the backing sheet and the cover, and insertnig an article container into the enclosure through an opening in the wall of the recess, the article container being such that an article or articles contained in it can be viewed through the transparent cover.

From yet another aspect the invention consists on a display pack made by the method outlined in the last preceding paragraph.

A typical pack in accordance with the invention has a cardboard backing sheet, a transparent cover projecting outwardly from the backing sheet, and open container behind the cover, and articles in the container visible through the cover. The backing sheet may be printed with information about the articles.

Hitherto it has been the practice to make display packs of a generally similar appearance by preforming a transparent, flanged cover, placing articles inside it and securing the cover by its flange or flanges to a backing sheet. A disadvantage of this method, however, is that the articles sometimes move out of place when the cover is to be secured to the backing sheet, with the result that an article sometimes becomes trapped beneath the flange and the pack is spoiled. This cannot occur when assembling packs in accordance with the invention. Further, the covers are usually secured to the backing sheets by a heat sealing process which is relatively time-consuming and costly. If the above mentioned disadvantage is to be avoided when making packs of the kind previously used it is necessary to take considerable care in ensuring that the articles are correctly located in the cover before the heat scaling is effected. When making packs in accordance with the invention, however, there is no difliculty of this kind, the result being that the covers can be secured to the backing sheets more quickly and with less likelihood of error than hitherto.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the article container can be printed with information of a kind which may vary from time to time, such as the number or price of the articles. Hitherto all the information concerning the articles has been printed on the backing sheet, so that any changes have involved the preparation of new backing sheets. With the variable information on the article container, however, changes need only involve the preparation of new article containers. If the backing sheets are printed in a plurality of colours and the article containers in only a single colour considerable savings can be effected. The variable information is preferably printed on or otherwise applied to a part of the article container which in use lies between the articles and the cover, so that it cannot be obscured by the articles.

Hitherto, when using packs of the kind previously employed the covers have sometimes been damaged, particularly when in transit, by being crushed. With packs in accordance with the invention this difficulty can be reduced by arranging for parts of the article container to lie alongside, and thus reinforce, parts of the cover projecting outwards from the backing sheet, parts which are otherwise particularly susceptible to damage.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a display pack embodying the invention, the article container having been withdrawn from enclosure,

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the display pack shown in FIGURE 1, the article container being disposed in the enclosure, and

FIGURE 3 is a section, to a larger scale, along the line 33 of FIGURE 2.

The pack illustrated is primarily intended for use in housing and displaying hairpins or other articles of haberdashery. The pack comprises a rectangular cardboard backing sheet 10 with a hole 11 near one end enabling it to be hung on a hook. Information about the articles is printed on the front of the sheet though this is not indicated in the drawings. Secured to the front of sheet 10 is a cover 12 comprising one half of a preformed unit (not shown). The unit is made by a vacuum-forming process from a rectangular blank of transparent sheet material. The unit comprises a rectangular front face rather smaller than the blank, side walls around the front face and at right angles to it, and a planar peripheral flange extending outwards from the edges of the side walls opposite to those joined to the front face, the flange being parallel to the front face. The unit is rather more than twice as long as it is wide and is cut across its centre to form two similar covers each of a shape more closely approaching the square. One of these covers constitutes the cover 12 which forms part of the display pack illustrated. The cover 12 has a rectangular front face 13 with flanged side walls 14 along three edges. The cover 12 is secured to the backing sheet 10 by a heat sealing process which bonds the flange 15 of the cover to the front face of the backing sheet 10. The cover 12 is rather smaller than the backing sheet, and its open side 16 is parallel to the top end thereof.

The pack also includes a container 17 into which hairpins or other articles (not shown) are placed. The container 17 which is then inserted into the cover 12 through its open side 16. The container 17 is made from thin cardand comprises a rectangular base 18 of substantially the same size and shape as the front face 13 of the cover 12, and which in use lies against the backing sheet inside the cover. The container 17 also includes side walls 19 which are integrally connected to the four edges of the base 18 and are folded forwards so that in use three of them he immediately inside the side walls 14 of the cover 12, serving to reinforce the cover, while the fourth 20 serves as part of the closure for the open side 16 of the cover. An integral extension 21 on this fourth wall 20 of the container 17 is folded downwards, parallel with the base 18, and lies immediately behind that part of the front face 13 of the cover which is adjacent to the open side 16 thereof. The extension 21 is printed with the number and price of the articles in the container though this is not indicated in the drawings.

Those side walls 19 adjacent to the extension 21 have' integral tabs 22 at their ends which lie immediately inside the wall 20 and thus prevent it being accidently pushed into the interior of the container.

A simple form of pack may include nothing additional to that described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which case the container may be retained in place merely by its frictional engagement with the backing sheet and the cover, or by a strip of transparent adhesive tape extending across the open side of the cover. In the preferred arrangement, which is shown in the drawings, however, the container 17 is retained in place partly by friction and partly by a flap 23 integral with the backing sheet 10 and folded as shown in FIG- URES 2 and 3 so as to stand in the path of the container 17.

The backing sheet 10 is scored along the line 24 so that the backing sheet can be folded as shown in FIGURE 1, the line 24 defining a ridge (rather than a valley) on the same side of the backing sheet as the cover 12. The line 24 is adjacent to the opening 16, and the flap 23 is integrally connected to the backing sheet 10 along said line. When the pack is used for displaying articles it is arranged as shown in FIGURES 2 and- 3, but when it is desired to withdraw the container 17 the backing sheet is folded along the line 24, and the flap 23 normally moves with the upper part of the backing sheet and is carried largely or wholly out of the path of the container.

It will be observed that the hole 11 is disposed on that side of the line 24 opposite to the cover 12. With this arrangement, when the pack is suspended from the hole 11 the weight of the cover 12, container 17 and articles in the container tends to retain the backing sheet 10 in its fiat state so that the flap 23 acts to assist in retaining the container in place.

What I claim is:

1. A display pack comprising a backing sheet, a unitary transparent cover formed with a recess, a peripheral flange forming part of the cover and secured to the backing sheet whereby a hollow enclosure is formed between the recess and the backing sheet, the cover having an opening adjacent to the backing sheet, an article container slidable into and from the enclosure through the opening in the cover, and a closure forming part of the container and operative to close said opening when the container is disposed in the enclosure, the container having a frontal window which faces the cover when the container is disposed in the enclosure so that the interior of the container can be seen through the cover and the window.

2. A display pack according to claim 1 in which the container comprises a base which lies against the backing sheet when the container is disposed in the enclosure, and a peripheral wall element Which constitutes said closure.

3. A display pack according to claim 2 in which there is an extension to said peripheral Wall element, which extension lies against the inside of the cover adjacent to said opening when the container is disposed in said enclosure.

4. A display pack according to claim 1 in which the article container includes peripheral wall elements which lie against the inside of the cover adjacent to the backing sheet when the container is disposed in the enclosure and thus reinforce the cover.

5. A display pack according to claim 1 in which the cover comprises a rectangular panel with walls along three of its edges, the fourth edge constituting one edge of the opening, and in which the article container comprises a rectangular base with four peripheral wall elements, each such wall element extending along a respective one of the four edges of the base, and one of said peripheral wall elements constituting said closure portion the base lying against the backing sheet, and three of the peripheral walls lying against the insides of the walls of the cover While the fourth peripheral wall constitutes at least part of a closure for the opening.

6. A display pack according to claim 1 in which the backing sheet is formed with a line of weakness along which it can be folded, said line extending adjacent to said opening, and a flap is partially severed from the backing sheet, the flap joining the remainder of the backing sheet at said line and when the container is disposed in the enclosure, overlying said closure and thus resisting the Withdrawal of the container from the closure, the flap offering less resistance to the withdrawal of the container when the backing sheet is bent back along said line.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,372,802 3/1968 Repko 206-78 FOREIGN PATENTS 927,035 5/ 1963 Great Britain.

JAMES B. MARBERT, Primary Examiner 

